Moving to, living in, and dealing with life in a new country... this is a blog for old friends, new friends, and strangers who feel like checking in once in a while to see what I'm up to down here in Belize.

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Thursday, January 3, 2013

I just thought this was nice...

The following is a reply from new friends of mine to their family back home in the States.
They, too, have relocated to Belize, and gave me permission to share this email on my blog so that you can read a little bit about their experience so far, and how they feel about making the move to the mainland...

Yes we are both quite tan, we are 17 degrees from the equator! It's in
the 90's here everyday and ultra humid! We have a treefrog living under
our microwave!

On jan 6 our lease here will be up and we will be moving north to Corozal. Wills parent are there plus we like the area better. We won't
be off grid there. I'm sooooooo looking forward to having electricity
all of the time again! That being said, our stay here has made me much
more aware of conserving water and energy and has also given me a new
appreciation for these resources! Here i take cold showers where the
water only runs when im rinsing, not continuously, never done this
before.
Ive learned to do laundry when its sunny, otherwise we dont have
enough power, but at least i dont have to handwash it like most of the
locals do. Ive grown to appreciate more of the things in my life that
most americans take for granted... im greatful for our experience
here... we are on the river and it is beautiful. The parrots all fly
over head screaching every morning as they are doing right now. Its
foggy in the morning and i never know if its gonna burn off and we will
have power or not. Every day we see something new where we look at each
other and both say, you don't see that in the states, and we laugh! We
have already made numerous friends here, its sooo much easier to meet
people here than it is in the states! We Love the freedom here and the
lack of regulation! There are only 2 stoplights in the whole country and
we have seen them both. Speedbumps keep people from going too fast.
People here do things old school, and we like it. Resources are limited
so people are creative and far from wasteful, we like that too. Even
something as simple as a ziptie or a good thick rubberband is
appreciated!! We've grown in spirit here...it's wonderful... I feel more
loving and live more in the moment here... i care less about what i
look like but at the same time have ample motivation to eat healthy and
workout daily. I havent been on a scale or been in front of a full
length mirror in months but my clothes still fit so im assuming its all
good!
Where we live right now is a 15 acre property with a caretaker, his wife
and 3 beautiful kids. He plays marbles with them every saturday morning
and hollers a mix of english, spanish, and kreole at them daily. He has
9 dogs that are used to being free and are now tied or in a fence since
we are here so they regularly bark or howl pitifully. Weve told him
they can run free but he loves them( a rare thing here)and wants them to
be safe from Gabriel even though ive told him Gabriel will not try to
get out of the fence. He makes $6000 us a year and he supports his whole
family on that..... think about that for a moment! He has a garden and
chickens and ducks for eggs. And as little as they have they have given
us eggs, coconut tortillas, and some yummy cake they made... its things
like this that make us appreciate all we have and just be greatful. They
cannot afford to buy ice cream so we got some and are going to invite
them over for some which is a rare treat for them. We'd buy them some
but they don't own a freezer so they couldn't store it. Their kitchen is
outdoors. They wash from buckets of cold water. They eat from the farm
here and buy little. And they are happy... the kids are always smiling
and outside playing, i love that. No xbox, no materialism. The kids are
very respectful and mannered and use mr and mrs when they address us.
Reminds me of the 70s when i was a kid. Here they all play outside and
are happy. I sat outside a store the other day and watched 8 kids piled
into a homemade wooden wagon being pulled around by the oldest boy and
they were all having fun.... how simple and living in the moment is
that? I do not want kids but if i did i would definately want them to to
grow up here with these values and appreciation...
Life is different here. I reflect more! I appreciate more, i laugh more,
i love more. I have such great emotion running through me right now as i
type this that tears are blurring my vision.
And just as before when i took the ample time to type a long rambling
email im going to send this to multiple people i love and miss dearly.
I look forward to talking to you next month. I love and miss you tons! Xoxoxoxo

2 comments:

Thank you for posting this email from your friend. my wife and I are becoming more and more cynical everyday watching Americans way over spend on things they don't need. 2 years ago we sold everything we owned and moved into our RV now belonging to the 100 possession Club. We are getting ready to take a trip down there in April to figure out where we want to live and then permanently moving between July and October. We are ready for the simple life and non-regulated life. The idea of knowing and being there for our neighbors, seems a world we grew up in.